First Annual Diffuse Conference

Background
Objectives and Target Audience
Programme
Registration

Background

When we use a mobile phone or interactive television to query the World Wide Web are we likely to be able to find what we expect? Will any of the money involved be received by the creator of the data? Is there a need to rate the data and, if so, how? What are the legal barriers to uniting the different information media? What needs to be done to enable digital content to be accessible by multiple devices?

Whilst the Web provides us with access to unparalleled amount of data, finding the information that is most relevant to our immediate needs is becoming harder and harder because of the sheer volume of data available in the “digital libraries” we now have access to. Today most of the data on the Web, in terms of bandwidth, is text based. Shortly this will be overtaken by sound-based data, and then by images and moving pictures. How can we formulate queries into non-textual databases? What do you do with images on mobile phones? How many query responses can you show on an interactive television? How long will it take to find a relevant resource using a mobile phone or interactive television set? What will it cost?

These are just some of the many questions that need to be addressed by those developing the next generation of consumer-oriented tools for the Information Society. Whilst the goal of a Unified Information Market can be clearly seen, there are a wide range of technical, social and legal problems that need to be overcome before we can reach this goal.

The first annual Diffuse Conference of the 21^st century explores how European Commission supported Information Society Research and Technology Development (RTD) projects are addressing these problems, and explains the vital role that standardization efforts play in achieving our shared goal of information access to all. It will bring together researchers, standards developers and potential end-users of the next generation of Information Society Technologies (IST) to discuss what they think will be the best way to navigate through the unstructured “Library of Babel” that is likely to be the future Semantic Web.

Note: The IST Diffuse Project has developed a classification framework that forms the basis of its range of reference and guidance materials in the areas of e-commerce and multimedia. This framework can help understanding of convergence and consolidation issues for the development of digital content services.

Objectives and Target Audience

The first Diffuse Conference aims to explore developments in digital content in an environment evolving from convergence to consolidation. It deals with issues from the perspective of those who need to develop, implement, and use products and services based on standards and specifications.

The specific objectives of this event are:

• To inform those active in different application sectors of key developments in convergence and consolidation
• To examine how general-purpose standards and specifications - i.e. those in the areas of information management, data representation and communications - meet the emerging challenges
• To promote and discuss innovation in digital content application development and services

The target audience are:

• Research communities
• Standards developers
• Application developers
• ICT Service providers

Note: Diffuse will be working collaboratively with the IST C-ECOM Project, led by CEN/ISSS. C-ECOM will provide an open platform within the European standardization environment to enhance co-operation among the relevant IST projects, leading to more effective e-commerce standardization.

Date & Venue

7th March 2001

Location: Erasmus Room, CEN, Rue de Stassart 36, B-1050 Brussels

Note: The first open meeting of the C-ECOM Project will be held on 8th March at the same location.

Programme

Note: Speakers will be announced shortly; please bookmark this page for future reference.

10.00 – 10.30: Welcome and Introduction
10.30 – 11.00: Keynote Speech: How can we achieve a unified information market?
11.00 – 12.00: Wireless Services: how to get hooked
                         Developing services for a wireless-based device
                         Introducing I-Mode type services into Europe
12.00 – 13.00: Interactive Television services: sitting back versus sitting up
                         Introducing Interactive Television to consumers
                         Future Television

13:00 – 14:00: Lunch

14.00 – 14:20: The Semantic Web – Developing a Library of Alexandria for the 21^st Century?
14.20 – 14.40: Digital Rights Management: what next?
14.40 – 15.00: The Rating Challenge: cross-device, cross-platform and cross-media
15.00 – 16.30: Developments within relevant IST projects
16.30 – 17.00: Technology and Regulation: the hare and the turtle?
17.00 – 17.30: Summary & Conclusions

Registration

There is no charge for attendance.  To assist conference organization, please complete the registration form by 26th February 2001.